Apparatus for the manufacture of roofing fabrics.



No. 690,349. Patented Dec. 3l.'|90|.

c.-s. BIRD. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING FABRICS.

(Application filed Oct. 25, 1901.; (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES S. BIRD, OF WALPOLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 690,349, dated December 31, 1901.

Application filed October 25, 1901. Serial No. 80,025. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LOHARLES S.BIRD,of \Valpole, Norfolk county, Massachusetts,have in.- vented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Roofing Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has to do with that portion of an apparatus for the manufacture of roofing fabrics in and by which the fabric web is saturated with the waterproofing material. It will first be described in connection with the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification and will then be more particularly pointed out in the claims.

The drawing represents in side elevation, partly in section, so much of an apparatus embodying my invention as needed for the purpose of explaining the invention.

1 is the roll of dry paper or other fabric to be saturated with the waterproofing material.

2 is the saturation-pan containing the hot asphaltum liquor or other material with which the web of paper is to be saturated.

3 is a heating-drum mounted to revolve in suitable bearings. It is preferably steamheated, for which purpose it is made hollow and steam-tight, the steam from any suitable source being admitted into the interior of the drum through one of the journals of the drum by means of connections and fittings well known to the skilled artisan. v The degree of heat may vary; but I usually carry in the drum a steam-pressure of from twenty to fifty pounds, which imparts to the comparatively thin metallic walls of the drum a very high heat. The drum, which is arranged over the saturation-pan, is of considerable diametersay four feet or moreso that the paper web may have prolonged contact with it.

4 5 are guide-rollers in the saturation-pan, located below the heating-drum 3. The paper to be saturated passes from the roll 1 down under the first guide-roller 1, thence up and over the heating-drum, thence down again into the saturation-pan under the second guide-roller 5, and thence from the saturation-pan. The paper, it will be noted, has an extended and prolonged contact with the highly-heated periphery of the drum.

6 represents pressure-rollers mounted in a suitable stand. They are hollow and steamheated. The web of paper as it emerges from the saturation-pan is led to and passes between these rollers, after which it goes to the other portions of the apparatus, in which it is further treated and finished. These portions of the apparatus, however, are omitted from the drawing, inasmuch as they form no part of my present invention.

The saturation-pan is kept suitably supplied with hot asphaltum or otherwaterproofing liquor, the heat of which may be maintained in any of the ways usually employed in apparatus of this general kind. The paper drawn from the roll 1 passes down into the hot liquor in the saturation-pan and under the first guide-roller 4 therein and thence up and over the heater 3. In its passage through the bath it is thickly covered on both sides with the hot waterproofing liquor, which has also partly penetrated the paper, and in this condition it reaches the heaterdrum 3. During its prolonged contact with said drum, up and over and around which it passes, as indicated in the drawing, the great heat of the drum forces the waterproofing material into and causes it to thoroughly permeate the paper. The paper thence passes down under the second guide-roller 5 and into the bath again, so that any unfilled pores may receive the waterproofing material, and it thence passes to the steam-heated pressurerollers 6, which serve to remove the surplus waterproofing material and to dry the surface of the paper.

What is new in the described apparatus over and above what has before been employed is the heating-drum 3. By its use I am enabled with but one passage of the paper through the saturation-tank to thoroughly and efiectively saturate the thickest web that is ordinarily used for roofing purposes. Heretofore this has not been practicable.

So far as I am aware thick roofing-paper has heretofore been produced in one of two ways-either by running thin webs of paper singly through the saturation-pan once and then afterward putting together two, three, or more plies of such treated paper and uniting them by means of interposed adhesive material in a web of the desired thickness, or by making the web or paper of the desired thickness in the first instance and then passing this thick web back and forth many times in the saturation-pan, running the web for this purpose over andaround a series of guiderollers at the ends of the pan, so that it shall lie therein in the shape of a series of superposed folds or layers, so as to insure the exposure of the paper to the action of the bath for a sufficient period to effect saturation,after which it is conducted to and passed between steam-heated pressure-rollers similar to rollers 6. Not only is'this a complicated and troublesome operation, but by running the paper this long distance through the-hot liquor there is great danger of breaks and damaged material, because the paper when thus wet is liable to tear,particularly when subjected to the very considerable strain which comes upon it by reason of the tortuous path in which it is carried back and forth in thebath around theguide-rollers. The steam-heated pressure-rollers through which it hasbeen customary heretofore to conduct the thustreated web after the latter has left the sat uration-pan are not effective to drive the liquor into the paper,=because they are small and the paper has only brief contact with them, while they mustalso be veryheavy and made with thick walls, which renders it difficult to heat them properly. All of these disadvantages are obviated by my invention, which enables me by passing the paper fora brief period and for a short distance only through thebath to thoroughly saturate the thickest paper web which is usually employed for roofing purposes, and, in fact, I am thus enabled to get more of the waterproofing material into the thick web than is practicable in any other apparatus of whichI have knowledge, the waterproofing material driven into the paper equaling the latter in weight.

The movement of the paper through the apparatus is accomplished mainly'by .the pressure-rollers 6, which are power-driven for this purpose. Similarly the drum 3 is powerdriven and should be so geared as to revolve at the same surface speed as the pressurerollers.

It is not indispensablethat the-paper should pass down a second time into thewaterproofing-bath, and after passing the paper down under the guide-roller 4 and thence up over the heating-drum it could without departure from my invention be led directly to the pressure-rollers 6; but I prefer to immerse the paper a second time in the bath for reasons hereinbefore stated.

I may mention also as one of the advantages of my invention that by the use of aheatingdrum in the manner hereinbefore described I am enabled to successfully treat cheaper kinds of paper, felt, &c., which heretofore it has not been practicable to effectively saturate.

What I claim herein as'new and of my own invention is- 1. In apparatus-for the manufacture of roofing fabric, the combination with the saturation-pan containing the waterproofing liquor, and the pressure-rollers for removing the surplus liquor from the Web, of a heating-drum over, around and in contact with which the fabric web is conducted after it has been immersed in the waterproofing liquor and before it reaches the pressure-rollers, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. In apparatus for the manufacture of roofing fabric, the combination with the saturationpan containing the waterproofing liquor, and the pressure-rollers for removing the surplus liquor from the Web, of a heating-drum, and guides whereby the fabric web is conducted first into the waterproofing bath, thence out therefrom and over and around the heating-drum, thence down again into the waterproofing-bath,'and thence out therefrom to the pressure-rollers substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of October, 1901.

CHARLES S. BIRD.

Witnesses:

HENRI E. DAVENPORT, W. R. MCNEIL. 

